credit rating agencies handed out significant downgrades to spain and portugal in particular. europe's firefighting coalition of finance ministers hoped a fiscal pact with tight budgetary controls and national debt breaks would need future crises in the bud, but some economists were more realistic. >> the fiscal pact was basically superfluous. we already knew that all the countries were trying to cut back. weather or not they continue making cuts in 2018, which is what the fiscal pact promise, is of little interest to the markets. >> agrees also posed a challenge to the eu finance ministers, who approved a 130 billion you're out -- billion euro bailout -- greece also posed a challenge to the eu finance ministers, who approved a 130 billion euro fail appeared more and more, the focus on firewall plans for 2013, releasing 800 billion euros in october, but that attempt to extinguish the problem came too late for the spanish financial markets. one bank sounded alarm in may. it was nationalized and needed funds to survive. other banks went through similar problems. risk premiums fo